Artix Linux Forum

Is there a way to run rootless SDDM on a dinit system, like the method described on the Arch Wiki?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/SDDM#Rootless

I followed the steps with my current KWin installation, but it seems the greeter crashes with the wiki's configuration.

Has anyone tried this before?

There are some quirks and bugs with how SDDM works on Arch-like distros. Namely, SDDM can't change the VTs on itself (due to X not having proper permissions even if you configure everything correctly), so when running rootlessly it'll spawn and work properly only on VT1. I'm running i3wm+XLibre+OpenRC and X11 works fine rootlessly. Here's how I configured it:

# /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config

needs_root_rights=no
allowed_users=anybody

# /etc/sddm.conf

[General]
DisplayServer=x11-user
[X11]
ServerArguments=-nolisten tcp
DisplayCommand=/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup
DisplayStopCommand=/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xstop
EnableHiDPI=true
SessionCommand=/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsession
SessionDir=/usr/share/xsessions
SessionLogFile=
UserAuthFile=.Xauthority
XauthPath=/usr/bin/xauth
XephyrPath=/usr/bin/Xephyr
ServerPath=/usr/lib/Xorg

# /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc

#!/bin/sh
# default:
# exec /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp "$@"
# new rootless:
/usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp "$@" -keeptty vt$XDG_VTNR

- If your init has agetty plugged to tty1, you need to remove it entirely from running as a service, because this takes over VT1's priority, For OpenRC, I recommend replacing /etc/init.d/agetty.tty1 with empty file (or /bin/true) and then setting the file attribute as immutable (chattr +i), because pacman will replace this file when OpenRC (or your init) is updated.
- If you're running proprietary novideo driver, you'll need to preload your driver modules (early KMS) Look here: https://github.com/korvahannu/arch-nvidia-drivers-installation-guide < I recommend running nvidia-dkms over nvidia